1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device which causes the premature activation/disruption and deflection of a warhead, and more specifically, to an armor applique which causes shaped charge initiation to occur while the warhead is at a standoff distance from the protective armor. This device may also explosively disrupt incoming missiles' direction of attack in order to lessen their effectiveness.
2. Background of the Invention
Armor appliques have been used to lessen the effectiveness of shaped charge warheads, with their basic function being to cause the initiation of the charge to occur at a standoff distance from the main armor.
It has been recognized that inducing the premature detonation of the shaped charge warheads greatly degrades its armor penetration performance by increasing the standoff distance of the warhead from the armor and exaggerating the detrimental effects of the misalignment of material velocities within the shaped charge jet. An increase of the standoff distance by merely 1 or 2 feet has been found to significantly degrade some anti-tank shaped charge warheads.
With the advent of contemporary precision shaped charge designs, it has become necessary to increase the standoff distance in order to seriously degrade their armor penetration performance. Low values of additional standoff can actually enhance the penetrating capability of modern precision warhead designs. Thus, the use of armor appliques such as bar armor has been found to be inadequate to offset the efficiency of modern shaped charge warheads.
Hollow bar armor partially filled with an explosive also has application in defeating both inert armor piercing and shaped charge projectiles. This happens when the projectile-bar armor impact introduces a certain amount of yaw in the flight attitude. The resultant projectile misalignment can greatly reduce the potential of a kinetic energy type projectile for piercing armor.